Brothers Act II
by William McKinney
Summary: The survivors of Spartan Squad Omega and Marine Delta Squad are awakened to find they have been frozen for twenty years. Reach is gone and Earth is under seige, and these warriors are needed now more than ever to help turn the tide agianst the covenant


Brothers Act II

Part I

___

The prowler _Lasting Symphony_ was impossible to see on radar, and damn near impossible to see in space. Black on black, no running lights. Her current mission was blacker than her hull, and Commander Andrew Trent was not fond of having his current charges onboard. They ran on their own agenda, ad Oni had given them free reign of the ship practically.

_Why in god's name do I have transport these four?_ He often found himself asking this question within the confines of his own mind during the long hours of travel, the four particular individuals were highly adept for the missions they were undertaking, but any sense of professionalism that was shown during combat was immediately thrown out the door when they were safely back onboard the ship. They acted like teenagers.

The four soldiers carefully crossed the threshold between the prowler and the covenant cruiser they had attached themselves to. They'd found the drifting ship in the middle of nowhere, floating with zero life signs.

"Alright team; split up, you know the drill, search for anything useful, and any survivors." Said their leader with his MA37 assault rifle up and ready, sweeping the interior of the ship. The place was a wreck, panels were strewn across the floor, bits and pieces of detritus were everywhere, littering the vessel. It was a small covenant cruiser, the ones they often used in the front lines of their assaults.

"Lucca, watch my six, something doesn't feel right."

"Copy that Cameron, lead the way." Cameron, Spartan B-242, pushed deeper into the covenant ship. At six foot four, he wasn't very impressive in size for a Spartan. He had light brown hair, cut nearly bald, with only a thin layer of hair that matched his brown eyes. He had survived the battle of Pegasi, solely due to the fact that he had been pulled from the front lines and put in charge of Echo unit. The small attack and special operations unit was used primarily for deep cover black ops, stuff that was _way_ behind enemy lines.

Lucca, Spartan G-368, was from Gamma Company, and had been pulled before they had shipped out. She was six foot six, with short blond hair and piercing blue eyes, Lucca often said what was on her mind, and could be quite blunt. Cameron had no doubt in his mind that her squad would have been running for top honors had she not been pulled, hell maybe they still were.

The other two members, Aaron, Spartan B-008 had also been from beta Company just like Cameron, but Cameron knew little of the other Spartan. He was all muscle and bad attitude, often coming into conflict with Cameron, and sometimes mission orders. Last but not least, Sasha was the oldest member of the group at twenty-eight. A member of the original Alpha Company, Sasha had survived numerous engagements, and had been pulled from duty before Operation: PROMETHEUS, the singular surviving member of Alpha Company. She had short cut black hair, which framed her face in short spiky locks. She was six foot three, and her green eyes had a certain sadness to them. Learning that your entire Company had been wiped out in one operation could do that to a person. Cameron understood how that felt.

"Aaron, Sasha, found anything?" Cameron asked into the comm.

"Yeah Cam, a whole lot of bodies." Aaron said over the radio, sounding bored. "Shell casing, definitely human, looks like some real clean holes, a little too clean to be marine shooting."

Lucca and Cameron stalked slowly into one of the rooms, and found a sight similar to what Aaron had described.

Covenant corpses littered the deck, and shell casing lay all around, like whoever had done it was moving quickly. Lucca crouched and inspected the blood stained ground, while Cameron did a quick circuit of the room, examining battle damage, plasma scarring on the walls, and the tell-tale signs of a grenade detonation.

"Definitely some heavy fighting, but it looks like whoever did this were some serious professionals, not a single drop of human blood, but look at all of these dead elites." Cameron nodded slowly, realizing what she was implying.

"Spartans?" He inquired, and she nodded slowly.

"It fits, but why leave a perfectly good covenant shi-" She was cut off by a blast of static as Commander Trent came onto the line.

"Wrap it up Echo unit, a pair of covenant carriers just moved in-system, and are headed this way. I'd like to get out of system before they realize we're here."

"Roger that sir, we just have one last place to check out." Cameron said into the mic, and they stalked off deeper into the ship. In the inner hallways, the bodies grew thicker, more and more of them present on the floor.

"Who could have killed all of these covenant? Must've been one hell'uva unit." Lucca muttered, and Cameron couldn't agree more. "Where're we checkin' out Cam?" She asked.

"Cryo storage, maybe there are some covenant in the pods we can wake up and take prisoner." They walked through a dozen different hallways, past signs of battle, the covenant desperately trying to put up a defense against something they could not stop.

They passed a barricade, an apparent last ditch effort to survive the onslaught. Eventually they came to the door he was looking for, and entered into a room with dozens of pods lining the walls, the circular purple containers similar to their UNSC counterparts.

"Alright, see if you can find anyone." They began running between the pods, scraping ice off of the glass windows set into them.

"No, no, empty, c'mon." Lucca muttered quietly as she removed frost and gazed into the pods. "Holy _shit_. Cam, you've gotta see this!"

"Just a second Lucca."

"No Cam, you need to see this _now_." Cameron spun towards her, and saw the iridescent emerald green armor, immediately feeling the impression of a Greek war god. _No freakin' way. An honest to god Spartan-II_.

"Echo leader, this is commander Trent, you have two minutes, we need to go, Covenant ships have taken interest in this one. We have two covenant destroyers in system as well as a carrier, over."

"Commander, we need a little more than two minutes, we've found Spartans sir, three of them, as well as a three marines."

"Alive?"

"They're in cryo sir, they need to be thawed out." Said the Spartan as he began going through the motions, activating the quickest thaw he could. I've got no idea who they are sir, or why they're out here. We'll be able to ask them in a few minutes." They thawed quickly, the six people exiting the tubes, coughing violently.

"Oh thank god." One said, a female staff Sergeant, as she looked at the two Spartan three's. "I don't know what the hell you are ,but I'm glad you found us."

"Ditto," one of the massive Spartans said, looking around. He grabbed a battle rifle that was sitting on the consol next to his pod, and checked the action. It had twenty rounds in it.

"I'd introduce myself, but I have a feeling you want to speak first." The Spartan said, and Cameron nodded.

"Yeah, but there'll be time for that later, Covenant are moving in on our position, we can skip introductions for now, we need to haul ass back to the _Lasting Symphony_." The Spartan nodded, and motioned to the other five soldiers, who followed Cameron and Lucca as they began jogging for the ship.

"Commander Trent, this is Echo two, we've successfully retrieved the subjects and are making our way back to the ship."

"Roger that Echo two, echo three and four are already here." They ran through the dark hallways, past the bodies of covenant soldiers, and ran through the docking umbilical to board the Prowler. The doors slid closed behind them, and the craft immediately began breaking away from the ruined covenant ship.

"All hands, we are making an out of system jump, be aware, covenant ships have realized we're here." They made their way to the briefing room as ordered by Commander Trent, while the ship launched into Slipspace.

Within the briefing room, the six people sat, waiting to meet Commander Trent. Andrew stalked into the room, and said simply, "report!"

"Staff Sergeant Samantha Mackenzie, reporting Sir!" The woman said.

"What year is it Sergeant?" Trent asked.

"Twenty-five thirty sir!"

"Unfortunately, that is incorrect. It is October twenty-five fifty-two. You've been in cryo for twenty years Sergeant, you, the marines, and you three Spartan, have been MIA for twenty years, and a lot has happened."

"Would you mind enlightening us sir?" A Spartan said, stepping forward.

"And you are son?"

"Petty Officer Spartan oh twenty-one, Michael."

"Well son, for one, the Covenant have found Earth. We're out here with Cameron, and his Spartan three's." The three Spartans turned as one; no doubt looks of astonishment plastered their faces underneath their helmets.

Cameron stood, and nodded, still clad in his SPI armor, though he had removed his helmet.

"You heard right sir, Spartan three. Trained by Lieutenant Kurt Ambrose and Chief Petty Officer Mendez." Michael didn't know who Kurt Ambrose was, but he knew Mendez.

"A new generation of Spartan's huh? Well who woulda' thought?" The slightly smaller of the three Spartan II's said, her armor scratched and dented.

"And you are?"

"Chief Petty Officer Spartan zero fifty-five, Elizabeth."

"And you?" he said, turning to the last Spartan.

"Zero thirty-two, David." He nodded.

"Now as I was saying, We've been headhunting covenant instillations for ONI, but we've finished our operations, that and plus the discovery of you six means that we need to hightail it back to earth and get you Spartans back in the field. ONI's gonna want to know you're alive." David nodded in understanding.

"Also, who are you two?" Trent asked the last two marines present.

"Corporal James Travis."

"Lance Corporal Lau Cheng"

Trent nodded slowly. "We'll be back to Earth within a day or two, get your gear in check, shower, eat a decent meal and catch at least eight hours of sleep. Then meet up with Echo unit in the armory and begin policing gear for what's ahead. I fear we may be in some deep shit there"

They all saluted smartly as Trent walked off, and when he was gone, David turned to Cameron.

"Spartan three's huh? You guys must be new, we hadn't heard of any Spartan's three's back in twenty-five thirty."

Lucca smiled as David removed his helmet. "Not new sir, just secret."

"I hear that!"

________

Fifteen hours is a long time, but David knew that twenty years was longer, and so he patiently waited for the ship to exit Slipspace. He carefully went over his armor, and was disappointed, but not surprised, to find that it was nowhere near working order, in fact it was only a few plasma shots away from complete disrepair.

It was useless, and after conferring with Michael and Elli, so were their armors. Cameron had overheard the conversation, and kindly provided an ultimatum to their old armor. Three sets of SPI semi-powered infiltration armor.

The three Spartan II's spent several hours in the Prowler's machine shop learning how to use the new armor with Cameron guiding them, and Aaron, Sasha, and the three marines staring on until they grew bored watching.

While the Spartan's were working over their gear, Samantha, Cheng, and Travis spent their waking hours in the armory, collecting weapons and gear for their eventual arrival near Earth. Trent hadn't gone into the extent of Covenant occupation, but they assumed the worst, and so prepared for it.

They had a remote controlled cart that groaned under the weight of assault rifles, sniper rifles, grenades, explosives, rocket launchers, and other assorted equipment and weapons. They readied the gear, and collected rucksacks loaded with ammunition, and when they were just about ready, an order was given to meet in the briefing room again.

The marines entered, not surprised to find all of the Spartans were already there, as was Commander Trent.

"We exit Slipspace in twelve minutes, and when we do, we'll receive orders from ONI as too your mission. He was saying to the Spartans. "You'll be moved their immediately, and that will be the end of our time together." He turned to the marines.

"You'll be assigned to a unit down on planet I'm sure, and we'll get you there, I pray you survive what's to come." Sam was stricken. Deep down she knew they'd be separated from the Spartans, but after going through what they'd gone through, she felt torn that they'd be separated from the Spartans.

She nodded, and turned to Cheng and Travis. They had the same look in their eyes that she did.

"Echo unit, you'll be deployed as ONI sees fit. We drop out in three minutes." They waited as the time slowly ticked by, and then they were thrown out into the black void around Earth. The video feeds in the briefing room showed destroyed ships and stations, but no covenant ships.

"They must be on the other side of planet." Mike said dryly.

"Any surviving UNSC ship out there, this is the UNSC prowler _Lasting Symphony, _do you copy?"

"Trent? Is that you?" David didn't recognize the voice, but Trent did.

"Admiral Hood? We've got Spartan's onboard sir; I need to know where they're needed."

"I read you loud Trent, we need reinforcements deployed to the Chicago Industrial Zone ASAP, and our boys there are getting a hell'uva pounding."

"Understood Admiral, I'll have them deployed, I also have Marines that can be folded into a unit, your suggestion?"

"Are they used to fighting with Spartans?" Lord Hood asked, and Trent looked over to Sam and then to David. They both nodded.

"Affirmative, they've had practice sir."

"Deploy them with the Spartans; the industrial zone needs serious reinforcements. If they manage to repel the covenant or lose the Zone, they're to be redeployed in Africa. I have a nother mission I need you for Commander, so leave your Pelican and a pilot with the Spartans."

"Yes sir, right away sir." The commander said, and motioned for the soldiers to get moving. They double timed it out of the room, leaving the Commander with the Spartan III's.

They made it to the Pelican, and quickly loaded it with the gear, before securing themselves in. They wore the SPI armor, while the marines were suited in pristine combat armor raided from the ships armory.

"Welcome aboard, I'm Warrant Officer Maria Hensley, I'll be your pilot for the evening please strap in and hang on, we'll be depart-" She stopped, and then said, "Hold on a moment, we're receiving some new passengers." David peered out through the open door, and spotted the four Spartan III's.

They trooped aboard, and David removed his helmet, giving Cameron a questioning look.

"We've been assigned to the same mission sir; you're in command from what I've been told." The Spartan spoke casually, but David could tell he was uncomfortable.

"So does that make us all Echo unit or Omega Squad?" Sam asked quickly to break the tension. David was surprised, and chuckled slightly. The door of the Pelican slid closed, and he shrugged.

"I guess we're Omega squad for no, any objections?" he asked, and everyone shook their heads. "Good." The Pelican pulled out of the small bay, and into space. David unbuckled himself and walked into the cockpit, standing behind Hensley's chair.

"Long time no see." She said, nodding towards the planet. "When was the last time you saw 'er?" he southern drawl was slight, but still apparent.

"I've never seen her before except in vids."

"No kiddin'? Why not?"

"Just never worked out, only planet I've ever been on that didn't have any fighting going on was Reach. How is the place anyways, and why is everyone so desperate for Spartans?" The pilot sighed ,and then set in the autopilot, before she spoke.

"Reach is gone Spartan, has been for months now. I'm sorry." David felt like he had been hit with a hammer. "And from what I heard, most of the Spartan's were there when it happened. I think only a handful is alive anymore." David stepped back, almost tripping. Michael and Elli were stunned where they sat in their seats, unable to move.

They had only thought the close friends they had lost were Patrick, Kris, and Jeremy, but now they knew their entire unit was gone, wiped out by the hands of the covenant. In his lap, Michaels hand began shaking slightly, and an odd look over came his face.

Elli clutched her weapon harder, and a hairline crack appeared on the assault rifles handle. David quickly clamed himself, and slipped his SPI helmet on.

"The covenant just pissed off the wrong batch of Spartans." He muttered as the Pelican entered the atmosphere.

"Hold on everyone, looks like we have some covenant activity bel-" Hensley never finished her sentence as an explosion rocked the Pelican. "Aww crap we're hit, hold tight, we're going in!" David ran into the cockpit, and looked through the left side of the glass. The Pelican's left wing was burning; at least that's what it looked like. Upon closer inspection, David realized there was no wing.

The Pelican dived, and David grabbed handhold welded to the wall. They weren't anywhere near Chicago, in fact, from the looks of the trees they were heading towards, they were in the rainforest.

"We didn't come in on the right vector, that aerial artillery platform nailed us before we could come across where we were going!" Hensley shouted as the tree tops grew nearer.

"Is there anything you can do?" he asked.

"I can make this slightly less painful!" She shouted as the trees grew bigger in the forward glass compartment. "Hold on, we're going in hard!"

"Brace for impact!" he called to the Spartans and Marines. The Pelican slammed through the upper trees, and flew into the forest, ripping past massive tree trunks and foliage. He saw the angle continue downward, and then the Pelican slammed into the earth, and David's world went black.


End file.
